Exploring the Relationships of Financial Literacy and Financial Behaviour with Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) among the Low-Income Working Population in Malaysia during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Mohamad Fazli Sabri (), Mas Ayu Said, Amirah Shazana Magli, Tan Maw Pin, Hussein Rizal, Nithiah Thangiah, Muslimah Ithnin, Hazreen Abdul Majid, Rozmi Ismail, Tin Tin Su and Abdul Rahim Husniyah
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Mohamad Fazli Sabri: Department of Resource Management and Consumer Studies, Faculty of Human Ecology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Malaysia
Mas Ayu Said: Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia
Amirah Shazana Magli: Department of Resource Management and Consumer Studies, Faculty of Human Ecology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Malaysia
Tan Maw Pin: Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia
Hussein Rizal: Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia
Nithiah Thangiah: Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia
Muslimah Ithnin: Corporate Communication Unit, Ministry of Health Malaysia, Putrajaya 62000, Malaysia
Hazreen Abdul Majid: Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia
Rozmi Ismail: Psychology and Human Wellbeing Research Centre, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi 43600, Malaysia
Tin Tin Su: South East Asia Community Observatory (SEACO) & Global Public Health, Jeffrey Cheah School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Monash University Malaysia, Subang Jaya 47500, Malaysia
Abdul Rahim Husniyah: Department of Resource Management and Consumer Studies, Faculty of Human Ecology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Malaysia

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 19, 1-15

Abstract: This cross-sectional study examined the relationships of financial literacy (FL) and financial behaviour (FB) with health-related quality of life (HRQOL) during the COVID-19 pandemic among low-income working population (20–60 years old) in Malaysia. A self-administered questionnaire survey was used with HRQOL data were gathered using the EuroQol 5-Dimension 5-Level (EQ-5D-5L) tool. A generalised linear model was employed to examine the hypothesised relationships between the constructs. From 1186 respondents, the majority were employed (73.9%), had a monthly household income of less than RM 2500 (74.5%), and did not have any chronic medical conditions (74.5%). The mean (SD) values of FL, FB, and EQ-5D-5L were 5.95 (1.48), 22.08 (4.79), and 0.96 (0.10), respectively. The results of the adjusted model revealed lower age group, Malay ethnicity, Indian ethnicity, and increased FB score as significant determinants of higher EQ-5D-5L scores. With the addition of the chronic medical condition factor into the saturated model, the lower age group, ethnicity, and no chronic medical condition were significant determinants of higher HRQOL. The effects of FB on QOL were confounded by chronic diseases, implying that interventions that focus on improving FB for those with chronic medical condition may help to improve the QOL among the low-income working population.

Keywords: financial literacy; financial behaviour; health-related quality of life; low-income; pandemic (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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